This procedure requires
downtime for the vCenter Server that you are upgrading. You do not need to turn
off virtual machines.

If an earlier version of
vCenter Server is on your machine, the vCenter Server installer detects and
upgrades it. If the upgrade fails, no automatic rollback occurs to the previous
vCenter Server version.

Note

vCenter Server 5.5
supports connection between vCenter Server and vCenter Server components by IP
address only if the IP address is IPv4-compliant. To connect to a vCenter
Server system in an IPv6 environment, you must use the fully qualified domain
name (FQDN) or host name of the vCenter Server. The best practice is to use the
FQDN, which works in all cases, instead of the IP address, which can change if
assigned by DHCP.

Select
Do not
upgrade existing vCenter Server database if you do not have a
backup copy of your database.

You cannot continue the
upgrade.

6

Click
I have
taken a backup of the existing vCenter Server database and SSL
certificates.

7

Select how to upgrade
vCenter Agent.

Option

Description

Automatic

To automatically upgrade vCenter Agent on all the hosts in
the vCenter Server inventory.

Manual

If one of the
following applies:

■

You need to
control the timing of vCenter Agent upgrades on specific hosts.

■

vCenter Agent is
installed on each host in the inventory to enable vCenter Server to manage the
host. vCenter Agent must be upgraded when vCenter Server is upgraded.

vCenter Agent is
installed on each host in the inventory to enable vCenter Server to manage the
host. vCenter Agent must be upgraded when vCenter Server is upgraded.

8

Select the account for
the vCenter Service to run in.

Option

Description

SYSTEM Account

Select the
Use
Windows Local System Account check box, type the fully qualified
domain name of the vCenter Server host, and click
Next. You cannot
use the Use Windows Local System Account account if you are using the bundled
database or SQL Server with Windows authentication.

User-specified account

Deselect the
Use
Windows Local System Account check box, type the account password
and the fully qualified domain name of the vCenter Server host, and click
Next.

9

Accept or change the
port numbers to connect to vCenter Server.

10

(Optional) Select
Increase
the number of available ephemeral ports.

11

Select the size of your
vCenter Server inventory to allocate memory for several Java services that are
used by vCenter Server.

This setting determines
the maximum JVM heap settings for VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices
(Tomcat), Inventory Service, and Profile-Driven Storage Service. You can adjust
this setting after installation if the number of hosts in your environment
changes. See the recommendations in the topic vCenter Server Hardware
Requirements.

12

Enter the information to
register vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On.

The vCenter Single
Sign-On administrator user name is administrator@vsphere.local, and the
password must match the password you entered when you installed vCenter Single
Sign-On. The Lookup Service URL takes the form https://SSO_host_FQDN_or_IP:7444/lookupservice/sdk,
where 7444 is the default vCenter Single Sign-On HTTPS port number. Your entry
should match the entry you made when you installed vCenter Single Sign-On. If
you entered a different port number when you installed vCenter Single Sign-On,
use that port number.

Note

If you installed
vCenter Single Sign-On in a vCenter Server Appliance, you can enter the vCenter
Single Sign-On administrator user as root@localos. In this case, the password
is the root password of the vCenter Server Appliance. The Lookup Service URL
takes the form https://vCenter_Appliance_IP_or_host_name:{7444}/lookupservice/sdk.

13

Enter the Inventory
Service URL.

The Inventory Service
URL takes the form https://Inventory_Service_host_FQDN_or_IP:10443.
10443 is the default Inventory Service HTTPS port number. If you entered a
different port number when you installed Inventory Service, use that port
number here.

14

Click
Install.

Installation might
take several minutes. Multiple progress bars appear during the installation of
the selected components.